The second most liberal newspaper in the nation, The Washington Post, has this to say in its editorial on Saturday November 21, 2009 about BHO’s trip to China:

“BHO was elected in part because he promised a more cooperative and pragmatic leadership in world affairs, but he should also be willing to stand up to Beijing.”

Are you surprised? I am because The Post has been in the pocket of BHO from .the early days of his presidential campaign. I was particularly shocked to see this kind of language from The Post:

“He was too deferential; he didn’t speak out enough on human rights; he failed to press Beijing firmly on revaluing its currency; he achieved no concrete results.”

Let me also remind you that he also

Didn’t get any help in Iran’s nuclear weapon matter,

Didn’t get any cooperation on Copenhagen conference,

Didn’t achieve his goal of asking China to limit North Korea’s nuclear weapon program and

Didn’t press hard enough to have China raising the value of RMB.

His speech and town hall meeting weren’t broadcast live. Questions weren’t allowed at his press conference. Knowing all this, he went along with China’s decision which showed his beta male and appealer characteristics.

The Post also said in it Editorial:

“He was too deferential; he didn’t speak out enough on human rights; he failed to press Beijing firmly on revaluing its currency; he achieved no concrete results.”

Other words in the editorial were: “especially disappointed”, “dispiriting” and “acquiescence.”

The Post concluded its editorial with this:

“But the American president must always be willing to stand up to Beijing in defense of core American interests and values.”

In other words, The Post finally realized that this was the worst performance ever for an American President in the world stage.

Oh yes, I forgot about his other accomplishments from his vacation in Asia:

He agreed with South Korea not to engaging in endless talks with North Korea but didn’t offer any proposal to bring this matter to a satisfied conclusion. He also said that The U.S. and its allies will send a “clear message” to Iran on its nuclear weapon program.

He also bowed to Japan’s emperor. He remembered having an ice cream in Japan. He reminded the world his tie with Indonesia. He couldn’t give up the chance to tell Asian people that he came from Hawaii. He even told Chinese about his Kenya father, Kansan mother and his sister who is ½ Indonesian and married to a Chinese-Canadian. He even said that “So when you see family gatherings in the BHO household, it looks like the United Nations. As if these personal issues matter to Chinese people.

Well, in the words of a common Chinese saying” ”他丟盡了美國的臉! ta1 diu1 jin4 le1 mei3 guo2 de1 lian3“ or lost face on behalf of all Americans.

Well, what else can you expect from a beta male?

I also can not ignore his accomplishment in the U.S.:

He will raise our taxes, our children’s taxes and our grandchildren’s taxes. He has quadrupled nation’s deficits. He will pile on record deficits for as long as our eyes can see. He is on the verge of drastically increase the size of the federal government. He may take over our health care. He will greatly push America into socialism. He has raised nation’s unemployment rate to 10.2%. He hasn’t created any jobs with his $787 billion stimulus plan.

Americans should be ashamed to have such a spineless president. Chinese should be proud of China’s firm stand against the strongest nation is the world.This is in far starker contrast to China in 1842 at the end of opium war. The signing of Treaty of Nanking “南京條約 nan2 jing1 tiao2 yue1” marked the beginning of more than 60 years of the darkest history of China’s 5,000 years of history.

China has come out of that dark shadow and every Chinese should be proud of this moment in our history.

Quality of Medical Care and High Health Insurance Costs

Treatment for Osteoporosis has changed a lot in the past ten years during which I had a unique chance to witness the progress made in the treatments for osteoporosis patients. My mom is an osteoporosis patient.

10 years ago, Osteoporosis patients were commonly offered Fosamax to slow down the damaging effects of osteoporosis.

When it is necessary, Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty were provided to surgically repair compression fractures in patients’ spine. Without this surgical procedure, many patients, including my mother, would not be able to walk and they would suffer excruciating pain all over their bodies.

Since Fosamax does not cure osteoporosis, forteo, a daily injection for 2 years, was developed by drug company to increase patients’ bone density hence reducing their chances of getting compression fractures.

In order to improve upon Fosamax, new drugs such as Actonel came to the market which is a monthly treatment for osteoporosis patients versus Fosamax which was taken daily.

If Actonel is not effective after annual bone density tests, a newer drug called Reclast is recommended which requires an once-a-year infusion.

All these medical advances require years of research and development which started nearly 10 years ago. It is commonly known that for every drug on the market, many failed in the first, second or third-stage trial before it reaches FDA’s desk.

What I have witnessed in the advancement of osteoporosis treatment clearly illustrated the significant progress in this field which only came about with years of research and development on the part of drug companies. This entrepreneur spirit will be lost with a single payer system proposed by Democrats in Congress and BHO.

Why didn’t the Democrats publicly recognize the quality of medical care issue? Why did they focus their energy only on spreading health care to people without health insurance? What they are doing is exactly what socialism will do: re-balance the wealth; be it money through taxation of the middle class and the riches or medical care services by bringing down the standard of service that we well be getting down the road.

There are three fundamental issues on health care reform:

1. costs,

2. coverage, and

3. quality of the service.

The House and Senate bills only address the coverage issue with a tremendous financial burden to everyone. Inevitably, the quality of the service will decline and cost will go up. Some kind of rationing will happen whether you like it or now. Call it whatever you want, someone at HHS will decide what innovative medical treatment or new drugs you can get and what you can not.

For those who can not afford medical insurance, here’s what I’ll say to them: Work harder. Go to school. Learn a skill. Take on jobs others don’t want. If one job is not enough, work two jobs. Finally, spend less and save more.

Many of my generation did it the hard way: we earned it. I also know that many of my Latino customers are doing it because they tell me so. They work hard to send their kids to school. They work hard to afford their children a dream. They work hard so that their children will have a better life than what they have now. Even though they do not speak English, they work their butts off to give their children a chance to get a decent job in America. With a decent job, they have a chance to get health insurance for them.

To those people who knows nothing but to take hand outs from the government, I say: “Take responsibility in your own hands and make a better life for you and your kids.” If you get into the habit of taking handouts from the government, your kids will learn from you and do the same thing when they grow up.

Saudi Arabia announced in late October 2009 that it will starting January 1, 2010 drop WTI (West Texas Intermediate) as the benchmark to price its crude.

I am sure very few people have noticed this and no major media has picked up this story to inform their viewers.

Yet, this news is significant for people like me: it signals the beginning of a long decline for the status of this famous crude in the U.S. on oil future tradings floors around the world. The decline is inevitable because WTI production is heading lower by the day and WTI becomes less important in the world market.

Another factor contributes to WTI’s demise is that the world will gradually see more heavier crude oils as production of lighter crude begins its decline.

You may not have notices this but this is a comment on my blog about Hasan:

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anti islam we really dont give a crap. ITS THE AMERICAN WORKERS BEHIND THE TERRORISTS THAT ARE SUPPORTING THEM IS INSANE. CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH ATHIEST WHATEVER THEY ALL SUPPORT TERRORISM. but not all christian and jewish or athiest do that.

cause islam well never do harm in the world. we will never blame people and say” OH LOOK THEIR ALL TERRORISTS!”

i used to do that….. thank the lord i learned about islam and became a muslim.

I wanted to take them out to American restaurants so that they can experience other kind of food and enjoy a more vibrant atmosphere.

We liked Tysons TGIF because it is close by and it offers full menu until 1 in the morning: ideal for us who work late. We also like it because the new food court area on the 3rd floor at Tysons I is always busy with people hanging out there all the time. The 16-screen movie theaters attract many young boys and girls who have all the energy in the world. I also enjoy seeing them walking hand-in-hand as if they want everyone to know they are in love. During the football season, we also like to watch a game or two which brings us back to our younger days in Texas when we were devoted Cowboys fans.

We ordered a couple of steaks and a pasta dish. We also ordered some wings to share. I didn’t order any meal for mom because she won’t be able to finish it.

To wash it down, we had three beers and Mom had coffee.

Although they enjoyed the time out but they are not crazy about the food. They are also somewhat comprehensive about eating in an American restaurant they are not familiar with.

Well, we’ll take them out to a different restaurant in Tysons next time.

I never liked politicians, be it here in the U.S. or Taiwan, because they either lie or deceive people; not to mention they always over-promise and under-deliver.

They passed out goodies to get votes during the campaign without being accountable for cost over-run in the future. They spend other people’s money with ease because the more money they can get their hands on, the more powerful they become. The more money they spend on behalf of his voters, the more his voters need them for future handouts.

Take Democrats’ handling of estimated costs of health care reform bills under consideration in the Congress:

House version: $1.025 trillion over the next 10 years.

Senate version: $848 billion over the next 10 years.

But did Pelosi and Reid bother to tell us in the news conference that the implementation of the health insurance plan won’t start until 2014 but the collection of taxes on everyone of us will start in 2010?

They didn’t mention their phony math: collect taxes for 10 years but only pay for 6!

In other words, they are not honest to their voters. They hide the truth and they lie through their teeth albeit with solemn faces on national TV.

CBO estimates that the federal government’s expenditure on health care reform will be $9 billion in the first four but it surges to $838 billion in the final six! What kind of math is that?

You do the math and figure out how much the real price tag will be. The tax burden will be on people who are just entering the labor force in the form of higher payroll taxes and property taxes. The end effect of the public plan will be lower health care service for everyone of us especially for seniors who require the most care at their golden ages.

America is going downhill one industry at a time

The public option in the Health Care reform bill is aimed at providing a minimum level of service to the general public. It doesn’t foster productivity, competition and renovation which have been the engine that have made the America the strongest nation in the world.

That’ competitiveness was the reason which promoted so many Taiwanese and Asian students, myself included, coming to the U.S. in the 1970’s and early 1980’s.

That reason is in the danger of elimination with America moving drastically toward socialism under BHO and Democrat controlled Congress.

In time, the public option will eliminate renovation in the health care, medical device and drug industries because the incentive of making a profit will no longer be allowed.

Nuclear Iran and North Korea

According to NY Times, BHO, while in Seoul, South Korea delivered a stern message to North Korea and Iran that they risk further sanctions and isolation if they do not rein in their nuclear ambitions.

All words and no action. Again. Without the help from Russia and China, the U.S. has no leverage to do anything against these two countries.

What else do you expect from the U.S. which is losing its international influence?

In the mind of the U.S. strategists and Americans in general, a nuclear North Korea is not a direct threat to the United States. It is China’s problem. It is South Korea’s problem. It is Japan’s problem. Just let two Koreas fight it out themselves. Let them deal with it. The U.S. will step in to play a minor role if asked for. If there is a satisfied resolution, BHO will gladly take credit for its success. If there is no light at the end of the tunnel, it is China or Russia which didn’t push hard enough.

I am sure the U.S. is developing plans in the war room to co-exist with a nuclear Iran in the future. The U.S. is also trying to figure out what to do when the 3 AM phone call from Israel saying that Israel bombers are on their way to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Planting the seeds for cost control of health care down the road

A new breast cancer standard was recommended by a federally appointed task force: start routine biennial mammography screening at age 50 instead of the current standard at age 40. It also stated that current evidence is insufficient to assess the additional benefits or harms of mammography for women 75 years or older.

As you know, the task force had previously recommended against screening for prostate cancer in men age 75 or older.

Is the task force planting the seeds for future cost control under government-run health insurance plan?

Do you see the beginning of rationing health care to older patients in the public option of a national health care down the road?